Abstract
Local government in Nepal is composed of 75 districts, 58 municipalities, and 3,913 villages. Municipalities and villages are further subdivided into wards. Each village is divided into 9 wards, while each municipality is divided into 9 or more wards based on area and population. The largest municipality, Kathmandu, has 35 wards. This arrangement pre-dates the current democratic system. However, the names of the representative bodies at each level changed after 1990. The discredited panchayat system instituted by King Mahendra in 1960 was replaced in 1991 with a system of District Development Committees (DDCs), Village Development Committees (VDCs), and Municipal Committees overseen by a district, village, or municipal council. In practice, the DDCs, VDCs, and Municipal Committees are the dominant institutions at those levels. The associated councils meet annually or biannually to approve DDC, VDC, and Municipal Committee actions. Each village or municipal ward has a ward committee. Nepal also has 5 development regions above the district level. Each district is divided into 9 to 17 sub-districts, Ilaka. Development regions and Ilaka are primarily planning and administrative units and are not considered to be part of Nepal’s system of local government.
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Key, J. (2003). Nepal in Crisis: Democratization and the Failure of Local Government. In: Vajpeyi, D.K. (eds) Local Democracy and Politics in South Asia. Urban Research International, vol 3. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-10676-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-663-10676-0_5
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